I went to the GameStop Expo yesterday and played the demo they had available. A little background about my knowledge if the Souls series first. I never played Demon's Souls, so I'm missing out there, but I have played Dark Souls extensively on PS3 and I beat Dark Souls 2 twice, also on PS3.
Visually it was amazing. Not only was the frame rate much smoother than previous Souls games, but the next gen hardware was definitely being put to use. With the attention to detail Miyazaki and his team have I can't wait to see what tidbits they can hide with this level of fidelity. It definitely still had the artistic style of a Souls game though. Not to mention the gorgeous environmental design. I'm not sure if you guys can tell from the videos posted but at the beginning of the demo your opponents are all people with weapons. After a certain point everything became a bit more monstrous. There was a big guy with a giant cinder block pounding on a big door where all the people were gathered followed by giant birds and wolfmen. So it seems like there's a quarantine of sorts in effect.
Gameplay was largely the same as previous games but with obvious differences. The most glaring change was the absence of a shield. I found myself habitually pressing L1 only have my moveset change instead of blocking damage. Also the guns as the new method of parrying was I credibly satisfying to pull off. Mechanically it's no different than Dark Souls but thematically it feels a bit more rewarding. Also with the bullet ammo system you are limited to either using your gun to parry a lot or using it as a ranged weapon. Likely not a lot of both unless you spend a lot on ammo. I'm not so sure I like the blood vial system in place of Estus but the animation to use them is cool. You don't drink them you inject it into your leg. The side/back stepping instead of rolling felt ok. It was in keeping with the more aggressive style they are trying to create. It makes getting behind your opponent a bit easier, but only if you are locked on. If you aren't then you still roll.
All together it got me even more excited.